


Treasure

by lfvoy



Series: Tales from Winter Camp [6]
Category: Earth 2
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-30
Updated: 2010-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-12 23:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/130455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lfvoy/pseuds/lfvoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgan finds gold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treasure

Bess sat up, startled. It was the middle of the night and camp was quiet but for its usual soft sounds. She’d never had a Terrian dream and the Grendlers weren’t quiet. So what had woken her up?

Rolling over, she found the answer: she was alone. “Morgan?”

He was seated on a crate at the other side of their tent. The lumalight on his far side was turned to minimum, rendering him as nothing more than a silhouette, but that was all she needed to know. He was hunched over his gear, adjusting the settings and muttering softly to himself.

“Gold,” she heard him whisper. “It’s pure gold.”

Sighing, Bess wrapped the covers tighter around herself and flopped back down on her side of the cot. Morgan and his VR programs. Sometimes she had to remind herself that he was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

* * *

He was cheerful at breakfast the next morning, showing no sign of having spent half the night creating his latest VR program. Bess smiled and tried to ignore the warning bell sounding in the back of her mind: Morgan wasn’t a morning person. He was never good company at breakfast.

Morgan was nearly jiggling when he brought their bowls over and sat down next to her. She looked him up and down. “You’re in an awful good mood this morning.”

“I sure am,” he answered. “Guess what: I’ve found it, Bess! I found the thing that’ll make us famous on this planet and maybe even back to the Stations. People will remember our name for generations!”

“Morgan!” she whispered. “Don’t you remember what happened last time?”

“No, no, Bess, this is different,” he assured her. “Nobody’s going to get hurt this time.”

“That’s what you thought last time.” Nobody in camp had been permanently hurt during the incident with the Morganite, but they’d never found Mary. She’d only had a coat as protection against the bitter weather. Bess still prayed that she’d found a safe place.

“I learned, all right? And I can’t wait to show you. What detail are you on today?”

“Laundry.” They had gathered fresh snow before breakfast and put it into a container to melt.

“Oh, that’s _perfect!_ Once you’ve got a chance why don’t you slip off for a minute. I’ve got to show you!”

“The laundry’s going to take a while —”

“I know, I know, but this won’t! I promise!”

She chuckled. He was so much like an enthusiastic child sometimes. “All right.”

* * *

Later that morning, after they’d finished stringing the clothesline around the edge of the bio-dome, she pleaded the need for a short nap and slipped out. Morgan was supposedly out gathering wood but she wasn’t surprised when she opened the tent flap and found him.

“Oh, you’re here! You made it. That’s great!” Before she could even get her coat off, he grabbed her arm and led her back outside, shrugging into his own coat on the way. “Come on, I’ve got to show you. It’s gold, Bess, pure gold!”

She stopped short, causing him to stumble. “Morgan, we are _not_ mining this area. You know that.”

“Who said anything about mining? Come on!”

She allowed him to pull her out of the perimeter, though she made a point of keeping a mental map so they could find their way back. This was a direction they hadn’t explored much yet, since the terrain became rocky and, due to the snow, slippery nearly as soon as they left camp. “Morgan, be careful!”

“Hurry up! It’s not far!” He was jiggling with impatience again.

“I’m coming.” She finished climbing up to his level and let him lead her around an outcropping. When she saw what was there, she gasped. “Morgan!”

“I know. Isn’t it great? It’s like I said — gold! Pure gold!”

Bess knelt down by the stream, marveling that the water was still liquid despite the sub-freezing temperatures. Its course led away from the camp, down the hill in another direction. “Morgan, what is it? Is there gold somewhere along the way?”

He dropped down beside her. “I followed this, all the way to its end. I found a river, Bess! A real river, and the equipment says the water’s pure, none of that scary charged stuff. We don’t have to depend on melting snow anymore!”

This time, Bess’ smile was genuine. She should have known that Morgan wasn’t going to do anything foolish. She threw her arms around him. “Oh, Morgan, this is wonderful! What are you going to call it?”

“That’s the thing. I found it; I get to name it — the Morgan River! Of course, I guess this would be the Upper Morgan River, since it probably runs out of the mountains to wherever, but people are gonna remember his, and when they do, it’ll be with our names!” He fell back away from her embrace, laughing as he sat on the ground and swung his arms wide. “We’ll be famous, Bess!”

Mirroring his laugh, she sat down beside him and looked at the creek. Gold, he’d said. He was right. Fresh water was always a treasure, and rivers usually ran to the coast. This might even be the way to New Pacifica.

And Morgan had found it. He really was the best thing that had happened to her.


End file.
